Meet the Women Managing Música Mexicana’s Breakout Stars, From Xavi to Yahritza Y Su Esencia and More

variety.com:

Thania Garcia The rise of música Mexicana has been one of the more unexpected movements in the music world: While it was the fastest-growing Latin subgenre of 2023, per research data company Luminate, the genre is centuries old, and rooted in traditional guitar-based melodies that many of música Mexicana’s most promising young artists — including Peso Pluma, Eslabon Armado, Xavi, Ivan Cornejo, Yahritza Y Su Esencia and Conexión Divina — likely first heard coming out of their parents’ stereos.

Except for Peso, all of those artists have something else in common, a rarity in regional Mexican music: female managers. The California-based quartet Eslabon Armado, whose smash duet with Peso Pluma, “Ella Baila Sola,” became the first song in the genre’s history to reach the Top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100 (and was Variety’s Hitmakers No.

9 song of the year), is managed by their mother, Nelly. Family members stepping in as managers for their musical children is not uncommon but it is a massive development for the male-dominated genre.

Few senior-level women have held influential positions on the business side — much less in non-Spanish markets. “What [Nelly] does for us is way more than just the title of a manager but, as a manager, she has surpassed our expectations,” Eslabon’s lead vocalist, and Nelly’s eldest son, Pedro Tovar tells Variety. “We’ve been doing this together for four or five years now and she’s taken every step with caution.